VacationSelector
Stari Most and the old town, Mostar
MostarStari Most and the old town
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Mostar by Alan Wang, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Mostar or San Jose, Costa Rica?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Mostar for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Mostar’s own page.

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Mostar 24, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Mostar leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Mostar 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Mostar 54, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Mostar leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Mostar 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mostar 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Mostar 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Mostar leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Mostar 34, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Mostar 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Mostar leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Mostar 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Mostar 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Mostar leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mostar 16, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mostar 20, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mostar and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Mostar
41match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Mostar in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
54 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MostarSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mostar: 1991-2020 normals, Mostar (0.9 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMostarSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageCroatian, Serbian, BosnianSpanish
CurrencyConvertible Mark (BAM)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation60 m1,161 m
Main airportSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)68 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMostarSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population105,448335,007
People per km²907,511
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mostar or San Jose, Costa Rica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.